Explorers of Insert Cool Sounding Noun Here
by The Weatherstorm
Summary: It was only through luck that the team actually got together. That's where the luck runs out, as two try to hide something from the third, and their missions quickly get more and more suicidal. Rated T in case of emergency.
1. In Which There is a Pretty Lame Title

I feel morally obligated to throw on something of a **disclaimer**. It's painfully obvious that I don't own no Pokémon Companies or anything like that, so what can I say? Perhaps that this story contains references to the plot of Time/Darkness/Sky, so spoilers/confusion ahoy! That said, there's a story to tell.

The world needs explorers!

Time is going out of whack! The world really needs explorers!

Team Ultimate may have saved the world, time may be all but back to normal, but by golly, the world still needs explorers!

That's what I'd been telling myself my whole life up until I was ready to leave for training. Well, I'd been ready since before I'd evolved into Nidorina, so I guess it was until my parents were ready to let me leave. This was the day. I was going to leave home. Have an adventure every day. Become famous. Help those in need. I was joining Wigglytuff's guild.

I'll admit Nidorina don't typically make the best fighters. I'll admit that I'm not any different. Well, not in that respect. For example, I guess my ears are larger than most. But more importantly, I don't know any other Nidos who went for a combat-heavy job. And, as I would soon find out, for good reason.

My trip to Treasure Town went without mishap. Well, without dangerous mishap. You'd think a giant, Wigglytuff-shaped building would stick out a little. My directions were just that far off. I did realize at some point I should have arrived, so I stopped and looked all around.

KRAKOW, is, I think, the universal sound effect for thunder.

Had I mentioned my oversized ears? Let me just say the lightning sounded very close. Instead of the fear I probably should have felt, I felt annoyed that someone would be so inconsiderate as to assault my eardrums so. I found the source quite easily. A shape on the beach blasted lightning in all directions, another shape cowering close by.

Whoopee! My first job! Even if it wasn't really.

Even if it turned out a lot lamer than I'd hoped.

I'd been readying a Double Kick, but something definitely seemed weird, I realized as I approached. The Bulbasaur who had been cowering seemed to have some kind of upper hand. An odd upper hand. Clearly the one who had been attacking earlier, the Pikachu now simply rolled around in the sand laughing, the Bulbasaur yelling, "Not so close to the beach, you idiot!"

"Er..." I said.

"Hm?" The Bulbasaur looked up at me. "Oh no."

I nervously took a step back. "What is it?"

"Nothing," he muttered, squinting. "My name's Mort. Do you-"

"Mort?"

"Yeah, okay, it's a funny name," he snapped. "At least it's not Patsy." He pointed at the Pikachu.

Having calmed his laughter to the point that he could, the Pikachu (Patsy, apparently) sat up. He looked a little confused when he saw me. "What are you?"

"What my tactless friend _means," _said Mort, smacking Patsy on the back of the head, "is what's your name? She's a Nidorina." He whispered the last part, but I heard it anyway.

"Nidorina."

Mort and Patsy exchanged glances. I couldn't decipher the looks on their faces.

"Well, I thought there was a problem here," I said. "I... I'll just go."

"Hold on," Mort said quickly. "You wouldn't happen to be going to Wigglytuff's Guild, would you?"

"I... am." Where was he going with this?

He bit his lip. "Can you tell me the name of the coolest exploration team you know of and what they've done recently?"

"Well..." Something about him made me really anxious. "Team Ultimate, of course. They stopped Darkrai, but you already knew that."

"Oh. Darn." He drew in the sand with his foot. "Have you joined Wigglytuff's Guild, by the way?"

So that was what it was about! In my excitement, I rushed up and grabbed him. "You wanna form a team?"

Startled, he squeaked, "Yes?"

Before I could scream with joy, Patsy interrupted. "What? No we don't."

"Yes, we do." Mort laughed nervously.

Patsy pulled him aside, and they argued in a loud whisper. They both talked at once, but I picked up a bit at the end: "Where else do you think we'll sleep tonight?" and something about Palkia. Patsy threw up his arms and turned around. "Fine. Yes, we do."

_Then_ came my scream of joy. I hugged the two, and after Mort's chuckles ("A girl hugged me!") he, apparently knowing the way, led the way to the guild. Of course, he might have just seen it, because it wasn't that far away, but nobody else had.

I thought the day couldn't get any better. And, unfortunately, I was right.


	2. In Which Stuff Almost Happens

**Disclaimer? **I had one last chapter, and my points still stand. Money's not involved, so no one will _care_ that I'm ripping off their stuff. Colon D.

"Whu-oh."

Mort was apparently a lot more excited than the rest of us (which is kind of saying something), leaving us in his dust. We soon almost managed to catch up by the time we arrived, though. I guess he wasn't in the best shape. Yeah, it was him who spoke last paragraph, before he came back to meet us as we came up the slope.

"You guys better see this," he said. Of course, that was the plan, but--

"Geez Louise," said Patsy.

Yes, we _had _better see it.

It was hard to believe we hadn't heard the clamor already. Pokémon of all kinds littered the guild's front walk. The gate wasn't open. No one was trying that sentry grate I'd heard so much about. Mort said something about how none of them were the guild's crew, and I would have wondered how he knew that if there weren't more pressing questions on my mind. But those questions were answered before I managed to ask them.

The gate clattered open. "Your attention! Quiet, if you please!"

It was a very demanding high-pitched squawk, which everyone obeyed instantly. I almost couldn't help it. It was definitely a bad sign if my blood ran cold when my life wasn't even at stake. But then... I just hoped my shivering wasn't visible.

Mort dashed my hopes soon enough. "Calm down. It's just Chatot," he said from the corner of his mouth.

Chatot. They looked pretty ridiculous. I was sure if I could see him I could relax. But, as he hopped back and forth, looking us over, the look in his eyes only started my shivers anew.

"As you all know," Chatot began, his tail sweeping from side to side, "there happens to be a vacancy in the guild." _As we all know?_ I thought. "Exploring has become such a glamorous job, with Team Ultimate's recent successes. I suppose you all think you can come in, sign up, and forever live a life of fun and adventure and wonder. Well, think again!"

"This makes no sense at all," Mort said under his breath. I thought it best not to speak. I probably shouldn't have heard him anyway. "Apprentices leaving worried him before, and now he's turning them away?"

"Wigglytuff's Guild cannot accept more than a few of you, if even that," Chatot was saying. "And those few will be the best. The ones who prove their worth higher than the rest. Take a job. Prove you deserve to be here. That is all." With a final flick of his tail, Chatot disappeared into the building.

"There's something weird going on," said Mort as soon as he was gone.

Patsy rolled his eyes. "No kidding."

"That wasn't what I meant," said Mort. "But--"

I found myself cutting in with a very profound statement. "Wha—we're not being trained first? They expect us to do well without knowing the first thing about exploring?"

"Experience is the best teacher," said Mort. "That's the guild's philosophy."

I screamed again, and buried my face in my hands. "I can't do this," I whined.

"You've evolved already, right?" said Mort. "So you do have _some _experience, don't you?"

"Not all experience is gained from fighting! Everybody knows that."

He grimaced. "So you're more of a scholar."

"I guess you could call it that!" I yelled.

"So I bet you'll recognize the word chill!" said Patsy. "Gosh."

Mort slapped his forehead, lost his balance, and fell on his face. "Let's just go get a job. I've got a guess at what we can handle."

**Author's Notes:**

Yeah, so I guess something will happen next chapter. Well, of course. From the look of things, it's going to be tough to _not _have something happen. Anyway, hope it's still got potential. I love reviews; I'm not afraid of flames. Can you at least just make your criticism constructive? Thanks.


	3. In Which Stuff Does Happen

Yeah, I'm pretty much through with **disclaimers **by now. But I'll still be sure to say the word at the beginning of each chapter. Y'know, for, uh... reasons. Religious or something? I can't imagine what kinda religion would forbid not saying "disclaimer" BUT.

Patsy wasn't shy about pushing through the crowd to reach the job boards, but Mort and I definitely were. Unfortunately, Mort was the only one who had an idea of what the heck kind of job we wanted. Patsy's growls were not enough to change our opinion. ("Oh no, my attack dropped," Mort said, rolling his eyes. I was confused.) Then I happened to glance at the other side of the room, where there was another bulletin board and no crowd. I pointed it out to Mort.

"Oh. Geez," he said, biting his lip. "Uhmm, that's the Outlaw Notice Board. I don't know-"

"Well, I hope you're happy!" yelled Patsy. "There aren't any more jobs!"

Mort was stunned. "Uhhh... but wouldn't some of those be too high-leveled for these guys?" The thought seemed to terrify him.

"So, ya wanna go check 'em out?" I asked. "The outlaws, I mean."

"Well..." he said, "it's just that..." He winced and trailed off.

"Yes?"

"It's just that these are a lot harder than regular jobs, and we're in a lot of trouble no matter what we choose."

I put on a brave face, trying to lift some spirits. "So when we come back with the criminal, it puts us that much higher on the list."

"Well..." he said again. While he hesitated, I filled the irate Patsy in on my idea. Then Patsy, upon seeing Mort _still_ indecisive, spoke up. "Mort says yes, bounty hunting is bad-a. Scoot." With that, he began pushing Mort toward the board.

"Okay, well, logic dictates that since it's decided we're sleeping here and all that, we have to do _something," _he finally decided, when he would have taken off to the wall had he not suddenly found himself there. "Right," he said, looking what I considered far too close at each outlaw's poster.

"What's he doing?" I asked Patsy.

He snapped his paw. "Oh, he's probably blind! You see-" He froze, stared at me for a while, and turned away. "Never mind."

"What, you—you don't want to talk about it?" I said, suddenly embarrassed.

"That's the safest way of putting it, yeah."

It didn't seem a good idea to inquire further. Instead, I asked, "So why does he know all this stuff?"

"See," Mort called, "I'm what you'd call a-"

"Nerd," Patsy finished.

"Scholar," Mort corrected, "but I guess nerd also applies. Anyway, here's one. Waterfall Cave. Most baddies should be easy for us. Outlaw's a Sandslash, which... hmm. Two of us are weak to."

Shrugging, Patsy said, "Yeah, so what? It's not like I mind playing hero all the time."

"Um, no," he replied. "Actually, he's immune to electric attacks."

Luckily, Patsy's mouth hung open in shock and gave me a chance to speak. "Like I said. It just makes our victory that much greater!"

Mort almost began another overly long hesitation, but stopped at the extended "well". "Is that Treasure bag properly equipped?" he asked.

I glanced at the bag slung over my shoulder that I probably should have mentioned in chapter one. "What do you mean?"

"Mostly just lots of Oran Berries and Reviver Seeds."

"Uh-huh," I said slowly, digging around. "Lessee. Moon Stone. Apples. And here's the berry stash." Pulling out a handful, I asked, "Which ones are Orans?"

"Are you kidding me?" Mort panicked.

Eventually, we got it all sorted out. Mort gave me a crash course on identifying berries ("You studied instead of fighting and you didn't research _this?_") and found us short. ("No Reviver Seeds, even.") He also found us short on Poké and, in his words, referring to the rest of my stuff, "Ugh. These aren't even worth selling." Plastering on a grim smile, he proclaimed, "We're doomed!" And he led the way anyway, getting to the cave before we realized we were marching. Of course not literally, silly.

And he was soon humming to himself, stopping only once to say, "No, wait, I think that's the Crystal Cave th-" and then stop in his tracks before continuing as if he had said nothing.

Patsy, with a bored expression, shot a bolt of lightning at the first moving thing he saw. It was a smashing success, flinging the victim Poliwag into the far wall. He was shocked for a moment, but the shock quickly changed to giddy joy as he frolicked about, zapping everything else he could find.

"Don't bother saving any juice for the boss!" Mort called.

"Don't bother letting the rest of us get combat experience," I muttered.

"Oh, yeah," said Mort. "With death on the line, and me being the most effective against the boss-"

I had meant to cut him off earlier, but was a little too stunned for a few seconds. "Death?"

"Okaywell I _guess_ this world happens to be pretty forgiving and stuff, so I guess rest assured, uh..." Before I could speak, he made another sudden subject change. "Patsy, ever thought you should stop trying?"

The Pikachu seemed to have hit something of a speed bump, in that pumping electricity into a Tangela is not very effective. He couldn't seem to come up with any other techniques, and the Tangela, enraged, started slapping him around with as many Vine Whips as he could muster.

"Get in there!" Mort shouted. "Meatshield formation!" He didn't really check for my bewildered look, instead realizing, "Wait, that's me," and charging in between the two fighters. He did his best to block the attacks with his own Vine Whips, but... let's just say was definitely as scholarly as he said. He looked like he was taking a lot more pain than he should have been. I wasn't worried, though. It was surely an elaborate scheme to-

"Do something!" Mort shouted.

_Then _I started worrying.

I rushed in there as fast as I could, only to to stop as soon as I was in range. "D-do what?"

"You're poisonous! Just spike it or something!"

Luckily, the Tangela was more concerned with Mort as I thought. I almost went for a headbutt, but suddenly remembered I had lost my forehead horn when I evolved. That left the spikes on my back. And so, I turned around and fell over backwards with the impressive battle cry of "Blarg."

Finally the Tangela was out cold. You know what else was out? The stuff that had previously been in my Treasure Bag. Mort, glaring, picked up one of those Oran Berries he had been so concerned about earlier. "Before we take another step, we're discussing tactics!" He stomped a foot to punctuate, squishing another berry. This did nothing to cool his temper.

True to his word, Mort didn't allow us to move on until Patsy had learned he could use his body to attack, I'd learned to bite, kick, and scratch, ("What _did _you study?" Mort demanded. I bit my lip and had no answer.) and he had taken a few experimental swings with his vines. Then he explained his meatshield tactic, where the least weak (type-wise) member of the team would try to take the hits. Then we had to discuss type advantages for Patsy's sake. Sensing hostility, I convinced Mort to let us go on before he figured out an effective way to murder Patsy.

We stuck together for the rest of the trip, and with our new fighting prowess (not to mention Patsy's head in the right place) we made it without mishap. Well, not any mishap until the outlaw Sandslash.

We all got the hint when Mort started sneaking, and peeking around corners before traveling down them. We were getting close. After a certain peek, he put a claw over his lips just to be sure, silently cursed about something, and motioned us closer.

There he was. Our target. Thankfully, not looking in our direction.

Mort thought for a moment. Then, he pointed at Patsy, mouthing, "Distract."

Clearly, Patsy couldn't read lips.

Barely remembering not to sigh out loud, he pushed Patsy forward, who charged, launched into an unlikely flying kick, and screamed, "Hi-ya!"

We didn't see what had happened, because we had wisely decided to duck back behind the wall, but we certainly didn't hear any sounds of pain except from Patsy.

"Well, well. Another bounty hunter, I see. Why do my foes keep getting weaker and weaker?"

The ground shook. It was probably much harsher in there, judging by the noises Patsy was making.

The next noise Patsy made was "PikaCHUUU!" for some reason, and then the far-too-familiar sound of his zapping.

The noise probably covered ours up, so I tried to mutter something about Patsy, stupidity, and our tactics discussion not fifteen minutes ago, but Mort spoke first. "C'mon, that's our chance! Let's go!" He rushed in, with me close behind.

Patsy finally stopped shooting lightning everywhere, panting. It had done nothing to hurt our target, but judging by his reeling, it did blind him. Mort swung his vines around Sandslash's throat, yelling at me to do something again. Swinging all my limbs wildly, I did many somethings. As many somethings as I could possibly do.

The ground shook again. It _was_ painful. I flew across the chamber and knocked my head on a rock, making myself pretty useless for the rest of the fight. Patsy, who had already taken one of these, fainted. But Mort still seemed to be holding his own somewhat. But his hold was weakening. As he pulled back his vines to get a tighter grip, Sandslash took his chance to slash at his face.

"Argh!" Mort stumbled back, baring his teeth. The look on his face said "I need a new plan," but he had no time to think. And he realized it. He pushed against the floor with his vines, launching himself into a powerful tackle that took Sandslash completely by surprise and knocked him to the floor. Before the latter had time to recover, Mort went into a frenzy, lashing out with Vine Whips until they both passed out.

Leaving me as the only one conscious.

I fed myself one of the Oran Berries, getting an instant surge of energy. I felt all tingly. My head was buzzing as I got to my feet. I was going to have to get used to this.

I force fed the other two berries, and as they spluttered back to consciousness, I asked how we planned to get back.

"We use the Explorer... Badges... Which we got from the Guild when we signed up." By the end, he was hanging his head, having realized what he was saying. "We carry him, then." There was a collective groan.

We changed it to dragging fairly early on. Dragging by two of us at a time. The other watched our backs and swatted Sandslash whenever he woke up. Which was a lot. Mort didn't do much dragging, but I guess he did have the best type advantage around here. Basically we got out unscathed. Or without further scathing.

By the time we got back to Wigglytuff's Guild, I didn't even want to move anymore. Mort didn't seem too sprightly either, but Patsy pushed us on. He was awfully energetic for having been the only one knocked out earlier today.

Chatot was busy looking unimpressed at everyone else's work when we arrived, and dismissed everyone to meet their clients inside. Well, it was definitely a good sign he was unimpressed. "Hey!" Patsy called as Chatot hopped inside after them.

Chatot turned. "Oh, I must have missed-" Then he saw Sandslash. "Y-y-you—_you _were the ones who went after Sandslash? And you _did _it?"

"Yup." Patsy grinned smugly.

Chatot fluttered in surprise, trying to spit something out. "Admirable!" he finally said. "I believe Magnezone is still here. I will inform him." He hopped off, still in shock.

"Team pose!" Mort cried, squatting down with a huge grin on his face. Patsy seemed unamused. I just giggled. "We'll need to work on that, too," Mort mumbled.

Well, to make a long story short, we were hired. We were awarded Explorer Badges and Treasure Bags, and even given our own room. _("That's_ not awkward at all," said Patsy.) And to top it all off, we weren't even late for dinner. "Get to sleep. You will be up bright and early tomorrow morning," Chatot advised us. Of course, we were pooped anyway, and needed no prompting. I myself was asleep before I even hit the bed.

**Author's notes:**

Gee, has it really been almost a month? Well, now that school's out, I'll have plenty more time to work on this. I'm looking into experimenting with it a little. Probably have one chapter=one day. Maybe switch the point of view. I'll definitely try to get at least one chapter a week. Again, I love reviews and I'm not afraid of flames. See you next week!


	4. In Which Another One Appears

Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Explorers of a Thing! This show can't start until somebody says **disclaimer**, so... I... guess I just did. Carry on.

I woke the next morning to the sound of Patsy's voice. Not that he was loud or anything, but nothing escapes my ears. His conversation with Mort slowly became coherent as my brain kicked my ears into gear. Well, I guess what I mean to say is that nothing escapes my ears once I'm actually awake. "...only chance at that," was the first bit I picked up.

"Shut up," said Mort, his face turning red. Patsy was about to taunt him (I guess?) further when he realized I was awake. He simply smiled sweetly.

I had vowed to get used to this habit of theirs, though it grated more on my nerves every time. I let them get away with it again, unsure of how much longer they would last. "So," I said, feigning calm, "Was it a dream that we had no team name, or...?"

Mort stared, his face almost back to its original green. "We're Team SmiteSquad. You agreed to it. Patsy tried to think of an alternative, but Wigglytuff had already written it down. You don't remember that whole incident?"

I shook my head. "I guess my mind was on one of the billion other things to worry about." I looked out the window. It wasn't even dawn. But if I knew anything about me, which I would have to guess I did, I wasn't tired enough to get any more sleep today. Then a more important thought hit: "Aren't we underground? How is there a window?"

"Oh, hush!" Mort suddenly shouted in an uncanny imitation of Chatot's voice. "The guild is built in the side of a cliff! It's only natural that you would be able to see outside!"

He apologized. I'm not sure what for. "Anyway," he said, a little panicky, "I-I think we should get moving before anyone decides to-"

"HEY, ROOKIES!" shouted a foghorn, knocking all of us flat. "GOOD MORNING!"

I, of course, was deafened, and probably halfway unconscious at that point, so I missed the whole exchange and just found myself outside the crew rooms when I came to. Wearing my Treasure Bag, lined up with the rest of the crew, standing before Chatot and Wigglytuff.

"And now, we will recite our morning cheers!"

Cheers? Yelling? I quickly plugged my ears.

"One! Don't shirk work!"

And what was with those ridiculous grins on everyone's faces?

"Two! Run away and pay!"

This was ridiculous. How could I hear this so clearly with plugged ears?

"And three! Smiles go for miles!"

I had never heard any of this before. How had Mort?

"All right, everyone!" said Chatot. "It's time to get to work!"

I had made the mistake of unplugging after the cheers. The ensuing "HOORAY!" completely knocked me out. Several slaps to the face woke me up. I never found out whose.

Today our duty was to pick out jobs from the bulletin boards. "We're gonna be getting a lot of that," Mort assured us. Which reminded me to ask him how he knew all this stuff, which he answered with "Scholar," and avoided further questions.

"Is this really the training?" I asked as Mort searched the boards on his own again. "Just send us off on our own?"

"Have you ever heard of that 'experience is the best teacher' ideology?" Mort replied. "That's how the Guild operates."

"Hey, that's how _my _job operates!" declared Patsy. When I gave him a look, he quickly added, "'Cause... 'cause this is my job."

Strike two for today.

"Here's a good one," Mort announced. "Drenched Bluff. No problem if we can handle Waterfall Cave. Not even that deep."

"Fine with me," said Patsy, cuing Mort to stuff the paper into his Treasure Bag. It give Patsy a thought to peer inside his own. "This thing needs loot."

"What, you don't like your bow?" asked Mort, pulling a silver scarf out of his own bag and somehow tying it around his neck. "Those things are valuable. It'll make you stronger and stuff."

"Fine." He picked up the black bow. I guess he didn't realize he could clearly untie it and use it for something else. I could have told him, but I liked the thought of seeing him suffer. As it was, he attached it to his wrist.

I guessed it was my turn. I had a pink ribbon of some kind. I shrugged, and tied it in a bow around an ear.

"And," said Mort, "at the very least, the leader should be wearing their Explorer Badge."

"I call leader!" I shouted. But I heard two voices. I glared at Patsy, whose paw was also in the air. He glared back.

"Look, face it, Patsy," said Mort, "She's _not _utterly clueless." He had something else to silence him when he opened his mouth: "And I'm sure you don't want to look any dorkier."

He wanted to argue, but was forced to agree with that logic. But, "You mark my words," Patsy threatened, "One day..."

We stopped at the market for supplies. And stopped everywhere else for Mort to make small talk with everyone he could see. He even introduced me to the owner of the ridiculously loud voice. Seriously, I think he was half the Guild's volume during those morning cheers.

And we made small talk amongst ourselves as we travelled through the Drenched Bluff. Compared to yesterday, this was actually almost getting boring. Patsy, still perhaps on edge from losing the leader contest (Ha. What am I saying? It was no contest.), suddenly yelled, "All right, stop!"

We stopped moving and talking, unsure of which one he meant.

"It just feels so psychotic!" he went on. "You call us by names, and we call you your species."

"It's completely normal," Mort uttered urgently, taking the words right out of my mouth.

"I really don't care!" he said. "Where I come from, we have names. Keep walking. We'll come up with something as we go."

"And we don't care what I have to say about this?" I said.

"Just choose a name."

"How about Nina?" suggested Mort. "That was the name of, um."

"Oh, yeah," I said. "Let's make my name a weird shortening of my old name. Next."

"Kathy," said Patsy. "That's a cool name."

"I'm not feeling it."

It went on for some time. Morgan? No. Jane? No. Jean? No. Ms. Boney-Bones (Did He Just Say What I Thought He Did)? No. Kathy? Why are you asking that again no.

Everyone was ready to give up when Mort threw a last exasperated "Kaylee" out there.

"Kaylee." I repeated. "Yeah, okay." I smiled, kicking a Shellos. "I like it."

"Wonderful." Patsy said insincerely. "That guy looks out of place. Could it be him?"

Of course, the pink kitty would look out of place pretty much anywhere.

Mort pulled the job back out. "Skitty. Yup."

"At last." Patsy dashed off ahead. "Hey, you're the guy we're looking for, right?"

"What?" said the Skitty, looking up at him.

"Uh, you sent out for a rescue, right?" Patsy tried.

"What?"

"Are you in trouble?" Patsy was getting impatient.

The Skitty jumped to his feet. "Yes, I am! What took you so long?"

Patsy buried his face in a paw.

"I think I know this guy," said Mort, stepping forward. "Hey, does the name Mort Johnson mean anything to you?"

Johnson?

"Yes," said the Skitty suspiciously.

"What about Leroy Allen?"

"That's me," he said.

"I'm Mort," said Mort. He smiled. "Crazy, huh?"

"What?" said Leroy. "Ask me a question only I would know the answer to!"

"...And right now is when it's customary for you to give us a reward." We were back at the Guild now, of course. Mort was explaining the basics of paying us money, as if that was a new skill to him.

"Uh-oh," said Leroy, biting his lip. "I don't really have anything."

Mort leaned in close, muttering, "You know, you could offer to join our team."

"What? Join _your _team?" Leroy clearly didn't get it. Nor did he get Mort's attempts to shush him. "And give you superiority? Why would I do that when I could build my own team to surpass your power?"

"Because," Mort said, finally covering Leroy's mouth, "Right now you have nowhere to stay, and the Guild isn't quite taking new recruits."

Leroy scowled. "It's temporary."

"Welcome aboard!" Patsy gave him a too-hard-to-be-friendly pat on the back, whispering to Mort, "And this guy's your friend?"

"Yeah?"

The implications suddenly struck or something. "Wait, he's your friend? From... back home?" Patsy put on an unconvincing smile. "This can mean one of a few things and none of them are good." Eyeing me, he concluded, "We'll talk later."

Well, that settled it. I would be getting to sleep early tonight, and I wouldn't miss their secret morning discussion tomorrow.

Apparently, it wasn't customary, but Leroy did get to eat dinner with us and sleep in our room. The guy would not shut up, even while shoving food down his gullet. I was about ready to tear his throat out when I had a plan. Those "back home" and "we'll talk later" bits stuck out to me. Maybe Leroy knew something about the secrets Mort and Patsy were trying to hide. If I couldn't squeeze it out of them, he would probably let it slip. And that would just be a matter of time.

**Author's Notes:**

Oh my. Some of these metaphors don't make sense in this context. Not only that, but four chapters in and I've already spotted a continuity foul. Oh well, I guess that's what I get for taking a month between chapters. But I remembered where I want to go with this, so chances are my updates will be far more frequent. See you next... well, soon, I hope.


	5. In Which Mort Gets Even More Baffling

**Dis **friggin' **claimer. **There, I'm done.

The coolest thing happened the next day. We ran into Team Ultimate! Or rather, Mort was spying on them. But anywho, I got to meet them! It was a wonder they weren't surrounded by other fans, but that's not the point.

So here's how it went down. Mort had taken it on himself to do all the shopping and things for us. And, given his success so far, we didn't argue with him. But, of course, soon I realized hanging out with Patsy was deadly boring, and with Leroy unbearably loud. Even if the Skitty hadn't disappeared mysteriously after morning cheers. So I went after Mort.

And there he was, standing right behind them as if waiting in line. There was no doubt it was them. The Eevee and the Torchic. The only two in the world who seem to have earned Secret Rank Explorer Badges.

In retrospect, Mort's approach was the better idea.

"Aaaah! Team Ultimate!" I squealed, flailing my arms around and generally making a big fool of myself as I rushed to meet them.

It was also a wonder that Team Ultimate wasn't used to this kind of behavior. Not that I noticed their, uh, _discomfort,_ to say the least, until after I had explained how oh my gosh it was so great to finally meet them and give them a list all of their accomplishments, in... in case they'd forgot or something? By then I'd noticed, and it got all awkward.

"Yeah, uh, n-nice to meet you, too," said Torchic through a hardly-visible forced smile.

Mort must have been as blind as Patsy said. Also, either he'd passed out during the onslaught, or he had just barely pieced together my absurdly rushed words. "Y-you're Team Ultimate? I-I mean, I'm Mort."

"I take it you're new around here?" said Kard. He's the Eevee, you know. The one who used to be a human? But you know all this.

"Yeah, we're new Guild apprentices," said Mort. "Team SmiteSquad. Well, Patsy's not here, but we're _most_ of Team SmiteSquad. Patsy," he repeated slowly. Then, suddenly, dropping some Poké, "Gah! I gotta find him! Buy some Oran Berries or something! Meet us at the café!" And he was gone, leaving us to choke on the dust cloud he had left behind.

Café?

I'd heard him right. After my shopping, it turned out Kard and Torchic had time to lead me to a hole in the ground just outside the Guild that I somehow hadn't noticed before. It was awfully spacious in there, I found as I climbed down the stairs. Way more than it needed to be. Two or three small crowds made idle chatter, a Spinda, Wobbufett and Wynaut stood quite happily behind pretty unused counters. Mort and Patsy weren't hard to find. They wouldn't be hard to find normally, now I think of it. Just follow the sound of the enthused conversation they don't want me to hear for whatever reason. This particular one ended with Mort's "He's the master of space and he owes 'em one! Oh, hi."

I sighed. "Come on, guys. Now's as good a time as any."

"For what?" said Mort, smiling broadly and unconvincingly.

"Whatever secret you've been hiding from me."

"Secret?" Mort bit his lip, his eyes lowering.

"Welp," said Patsy, "From what you've told me, it's best to come out with it right now. We're actually-"

"Going to get a _much _better plan than that!" A vine shot out, wrapping around Patsy's mouth. "Come on, we're going to Luminous Spring." Mort began to drag Patsy off. Stunned, it was all I could do to keep up.

After such a fantastic display getting Patsy up the stairs, it was disappointing to see him stop and admit he didn't know where it was. Of course, I did, having evolved before. I pointed it out on the map. What a map. Locations aren't marked until you've been there? Don't get me wrong, it's great to have a map that draws itself, but honestly?

"So, why was this important?" I forgot to ask before we got there.

Mort had that look again. The I'm-gonna-avoid-answering-that-question-like-the-plague look. My glare didn't help things at all.

"What is this place, anyway?" said the now ungagged Patsy.

Probably just thankful for the change of subject, Mort said, "It's where you go to evolve. It's, uh... magical or something."

"Uh-huh," said Patsy, not impressed.

"Oh, like _you _can make up speeches on the spot."

"Guys," I interrupted, "You have enough annoying habits to get away with not bickering! Why are we here, Mort?"

"Geez, calm down," he mumbled.

"Well?"

"I was gonna try to evolve," he said. "That's all there is to it." Again with the unconvincing smile as he stepped into a light peeking out from the trees.

I felt my annoyance suddenly replaced by awe as my memories of this place returned. A voice emanated from nowhere, repeating words pretty permanently etched into my brain. "Those who seek awakening..."

"That's me," said Mort, completely lacking any kind of reverence. Upsetting my trip through memory lane.

I found myself quoting the next bit along with the voice. "Let us begin." I took a breath to quote some more, but it didn't come. "No."

Now that was jarring.

"Dang! Is it a distortion in the fabric of space or something?"

I wanted to ask where he got words like that, but the voice agreed with him. "There is another... your partner, Patsy."

Funny as it was to hear such a mystical voice say a name like Patsy, it was too much of a shock to laugh. And add to that the fact that Mort knew the cause out of nowhere.

"But I am high enough level, right?"

Mort's utter lack of respect was clearly getting to _everybody!_ "This place serves no purpose to you. Begone," said the voice, and the light went out.

"What _was_ that?" I asked on the way back.

"The first step of my master plan," said Mort. "I'll tell you about it later."

"Same question," said Patsy, "but what was with all the douchebaggery is what I mean."

"Yeah, stealing your thunder, I know," said Mort. "I guess I'm in a rush to get this over with. You should be grateful."

Patsy scoffed. "One, that pun better not be intended, two, in a rush? Don't you dare tell anybody at home, but I think I'm starting to like this place. And would you really be so quick to leave your-"

"I think I see where this sentence is going stop right there," Mort said quickly.

Again? From then on, I was keeping count.

"Right," said Mort. "Step two is asking Palkia about space distortions. Or maybe that's step three. Step two would be getting there. Or maybe step two is getting a favor from Team Ultimate? Argh."

"At least none of the steps are death yet," said Patsy.

Mort laughed nervously. "Not directly."

We should have been long gone on the day's work by the time we got back to the Guild. Good thing Chatot didn't see us, or we'd never hear the end of it. Anyway, the rest of the day went uneventfully. We picked up a rather easy job in the Beach Cave. Patsy plowed through everything without giving us a chance to fight. Mort tried to stop thinking about his plans out loud. It was clear long ago they'd never tell me what was going on. I couldn't get much sneakier, though. But they hadn't given me any reason to stop worrying about it. I didn't plan to give up until I learned the truth. Though... at that point it wouldn't really _be_ giving up.

**Author's notes:** Where is Leroy? What's Kaylee going to try next? But those aren't the questions you're asking yourself. (probably) You're asking "Space distortion? What could all this mean?" You mean you haven't guessed yet? Do I only think it's obvious? Then again, I'm writing the story, so of course I know what's going to happen. Maybe I should stop calling it obvious. I dunno!

In other news, I'm gonna see if I can wait less than two months to write another chapter.


	6. In Which The Secret is Revealed

Why do I even keep up with this disclaimer nonsense? The joke got old long ago.

Also, suddenly third person oh man!

"...AND THREE! SMILES GO FOR MILES!"

Kaylee unplugged her ears. It was another bright, sunny day in the Guild. (Well, not /in/ the Guild, but you know what I mean.) Today, her first plan was to let Mort and Patsy try to get out of earshot and drop some eaves.

She didn't count on her guildmates interfering.

"Aren't you one of the new recruits?" asked a high-pitched and entirely-too-loud voice. Not Loudred loud, but still uncomfortable. Kaylee turned and opened her mouth, but the voice went on. "Delighted to meet you! I'm Sunflora!" She thrust a leaf in Kaylee's face.

"Nidorina," said Kaylee, shaking it. "I mean, Kaylee."

"A name?" said Sunflora, a little surprised. "Oh my gosh! You're not a human, are you?"

"No. But the other two had names and started feeling a little psycho or something calling me Nidorina."

"Oh my gosh are /they/ humans?"

Kaylee snickered. "No, I'm-" Wait a minute. What if-

Sunflora took the silence as a cue to wreck Kaylee's train of thought. "Oh, sorry. It's just that after Kard, I thought more might turn up eventually. I'm not saying I like you any less!" Sunflora took a glance at the ladder. "I ought to catch up to Bidoof. I'll talk to you later!"

"Yeah," said Kaylee, trying desperately to remember where her thoughts had been a moment ago. That was futile, too. Patsy nudged her as he passed, muttering something about being at the café when they needed him, and riffling through his Treasure Bag.

Well, too late now. She could go see what Mort was up to, she guessed.

Mort froze at the sound of an all-too-familiar throat clearing. Putting on his fake grin, he turned to see Chatot with a very suspicious look on his face.

"J-just taking a closer look at that job! And putting it back when I decided I wasn't interested! I-I'm really near-sighted."

If Chatot had eyebrows, they would be raising. "Let me see that, if you please."

Laughing nervously, Mort obeyed and tried to read the look on Chatot's face as he looked the job over. "Bulbasaur?" Chatot read aloud, looking up. "Spacial Rift?" Mort could feel the sweat starting, and hoped desperately that it wasn't visible. They stood in agonizing silence for several seconds, neither moving. Apart from a certain muscle under Mort's eye.

"Well, your disinterest is well placed. This mission is ranked several stars. You should be doing C rank, if that. It wasn't marked." He squinted back at the paper. "And it's in such a messy scrawl. I'm not sure this is a properly submitted mission. But I wouldn't want to take another one up with the Guildmaster." He pulled a stamp out of nowhere and marked it appropriately. "Be sure to alert either me or the Guildmaster should you find another unmarked job."

"Will do," said Mort, breathing a sigh of relief.

Kaylee clumsily stumbled into Chatot as she tried to recover her balance from the rather poorly-done climb. Freezing up, she stuttered an apology as he hopped off in a huff.

"Have you picked up a job yet?" she asked Mort when she regained her composure.

"No," he said. "And with a little luck, not ever," he added under his breath.

"Not ever? Is this part of your master plan?"

"Wha-?" He looked up at her in shock.

"You see my ears?" She wiggled them a bit for emphasis. "You see how unnaturally big they are? Mom says I'll grow into them, but I sure hope not."

Mort laughed uneasily. "Don't want to be a Nidoqueen? I'll be sure not to get you a Moon Stone for your birthday." Where was she going with this?

"I can hear all sorts of things with these. Including, say, whispered conversations."

Mort took some time to spit it out. "You know?"

"No. In exchange for that little secret, you tell me yours."

"Uhhh..." Mort was sweating profusely. "Well... not here!"

"How about if I guess? You and Patsy are humans, aren't you?"

Laughter. It sounded far too confident to be Mort's, though. And far too not-coming-from-Mort. Kaylee turned to see Patsy, a smug grin on his face. "That's ridiculous. Where'd you hear that?"

Mort took advantage of the distraction to wipe the sweat off his face and take a few calming breaths. Patsy was the good liar here. He'd bluffed his way out of much worse before. Like the time when he'd emptied the larder and was even caught red-handed. Well, much worse in the sense that there was evidence.

Kaylee shook her head. "Now I think of it, it does seem kind of silly. I mean, the last time a human-turned-Pokémon showed up, it was really convoluted and you two don't seem to be under that kind of stress." That... that sounded a lot like sarcasm. "Fine. We'll go somewhere private. But Mort is going to do the explaining."

"Are you sure?" said Patsy. "I mean, you know how he is. Always stuttering, and-"

"Well, I don't suspect /him/ of having a silver tongue," said Kaylee.

Great. Just great. Mort had been relying on Patsy's silver tongue.

The beach was usually pretty quiet and empty. Mort didn't feel comfortable leaving the Guild; it was part of his plan. But he couldn't think of a better option, so the beach it was. Patsy and Kaylee glared at Mort, arms folded. Both glares said, "You are so dead."

Mort swallowed. "Okay, well..."

"Yes?" Kaylee said forcefully.

"You see, we, um..."

Patsy raised a nonexistent eyebrow.

Mort broke. "Argh! You're right! We are humans! Patsy broke a mad scientist's thingy and reality rewrote us in another world and we're just trying to get back!"

Silence.

"Yeah, right!" said Kaylee between guffaws. "If it were that simple, you wouldn't be so uptight about keeping it a secret!" She sighed and wiped a tear. "Now, really. What aren't you telling me? How far are we gonna go if we can't even trust each other with our secrets?"

"Well... okay?" said Mort, glancing at Patsy, who just shrugged. "I-if you put it that way? Well... geez. Um, like we probably said before, we're from far away. Um."

"Yes?"

"A-another continent." He started gaining momentum. "We were testing out some technology to cross the sea. But there was a storm and it was destroyed and we washed up on the beach. Th-the technology's supposed to be a secret. That... that..."

"Ooh. And it's a painful memory?" Kaylee suddenly felt sorry for pressing the two so hard. "Were there any others?"

"Yeah," said Mort. "Leroy, for example. I didn't know he made it. I think he hit his head. That's probably why he acted so funny when we met."

"And after him, who knows?" said Patsy. "I mean, he didn't have any particular reason to show up. Could it be that-" He stopped. Kaylee gave him her look. "Even less competent swimmers made it?" he finished.

Mort's mind reeled. Patsy was right. Anybody could turn up if Leroy had. Cassie? Tracy? Hopefully they knew enough about this place to avoid raising suspicion.

"Then... what about the spacial distortions or whatever at Luminous Spring?" asked Kaylee.

"Oh! Well, our own continent has a place where we're supposed to evolve. That probably did it."

"And you said something about the Master of Space earlier?" said Kaylee, scratching her head. "Palkia, right? What could you possibly have been—trying to get him to open a portal or something back to your home?"

"Exactly," said Mort. "I'm really not sure this continent has the materials for another, uh... or at least not easy to find. Plus, after that last fiasco..."

"But I'm sure there are better ways of doing it," said Kaylee. "Didn't Team Ultimate find a way to cross the sea?"

"Yeah. But probably none they'd share with us."

"Oh. Speak of the devil," said Patsy.

Mort and Kaylee turned. Yep, there they were. Kard and Torchic, approaching from Treasure Town.

"Oh," said Kard. "You're not this Bulbasaur, are you?" He had Mort's job.

"It worked? You took it?" Mort spluttered. "That's—that's—wait. I'm having second thoughts."

"Well, good," said Torchic. "We're not taking you."

Kard nodded. "This job is clearly forged. We're here to give you your punishment."

"A warning," Torchic interrupted sternly.

"Fine, a warning. Anyway, we've got more pressing matters. A mysterious villain has shown up and nearly killed a few explorers. Legal or not, you've been preempted."

"Sounds fair," muttered Mort.

"So like I said, this is your last warning." Kard put the paper down on the sand. "Here, in case you want a reminder of your shame or something."

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Today's jobs put them through a much more densely populated cave than yesterday, and, try as he might, Patsy couldn't zap all of them. And explorers didn't take any chances. Everything is definitely trying to kill you. Mort tried unsuccessfully to shoot "seeds or leaves or anything, really" out of his back, with little success.

By dinnertime, the incident with Team Ultimate was all but forgotten. (Of course, everything was forgotten at dinnertime.) It wasn't like there was anything they couldn't handle. And so, they thought nothing of the villain they had mentioned.

That is, until later that night.

**Author's notes some more**

Yep, it's settled. We'll be lucky to get more than one chapter a month. Well, the secret's out! Who honestly didn't see that coming? And poor Kaylee. She isn't very good at identifying lies. I did like the perspective change. I wanted to keep the secret (if I can call it that) a bit longer and didn't think I could pull it off from Mort's perspective, but I did like the story better from Mort's perspective, and it's been hard deciding when to switch. But yeah, I'm probably gonna stick with Mort.

Aaanyway, I'm gonna lie to you and say I'll have a new chapter in a week. See you after the longest week of my life!


	7. In Which Doom Becomes Pretty Likely

Not even gonna bother typing **disclaimer** this—dang it!

Mort was usually out of it until some time after being awoken. And that was after a full night's sleep. Getting anything out of him in the middle of the night was completely out of the question.

Of course, now that I've said that, you can guess what was being asked of him now.

"Something's wrong," said Kaylee, or at least that was his guess. The aqua blob could have been a lot of things, with his near-sighted eyes so out of focus. Again, what must have woken him up in the first place, some kind of shake, getting ever more violent as her patience drained.

"All right, all right!" Mort reached for his—no, he didn't have those here. How had he forgotten? Especially with Kaylee standing over him right this very moment. Or, not anymore. Now that he was moving, she was waking Patsy.

"What is it?"

"I don't know, just something—there it is again!"

Mort looked up and all around. "I didn't hear anything."

"Yeah, yeah," said Patsy, wasting no time kicking his sarcasm into gear. "You're a mutant and you can hear everything. Maybe you could describe it?"

"Sort of a..." She grabbed her head. "Ugh, it's no use. Let's just go see."

"Where?" said Patsy. "That'd be useful info, too."

She paused for a moment. "Up."

For fear of the Guildmaster's legendary temper, they fell silent as soon as they left their room. Even Patsy mysteriously learned how to sneak. Kaylee laid a paw on the ladder, trying to think how best to climb up, when suddenly she was pulled backward, something over her mouth. She let out a squeak before Mort managed to shush her. "Thorry, thethe are hard to control," he whispered, pulling his vines back in.

"Geez, Mort," she said under her breath, "could you warn me next time?"

"If we're not trying to thneak nextht time," he said. "Thpeaking of, lithp. It'th a lot quieter."

"Okay, what wath tho important?" said Patsy, in as mocking a tone as he could muster in a whisper.

"Ithn't Chatot up there?" said Mort.

Kaylee would have paled visibly had it been possible to see more than an outline. "Chatot?"

"Oh. Hmm," said Patsy. "Maybe we better not rithk the retht of our mealth over thith."

"But..." said Kaylee. The sound she had been hearing came, something just beyond hearing. "Wait. That'th... I think that'th..." Not hesitating a moment longer, she grabbed the ladder and climbed for all she was worth, throwing stealth to the wind.

"Kay!" Mort whispered as loudly as he could. As you might have guessed, not very loud. Not surprisingly, it was no use. "Argh!" Wrapping his vines around the rungs, he began the awkward, clumsy climb he had been perfecting since his arrival, Patsy following as closely as was safe.

Kaylee missed a rung on her way up the second ladder, slipping and falling on top of Mort. And his little scream was what did it. Sure enough, Chatot fluttered down from the top rung, giving them all the eye. Kaylee scrambled to her feet only to cower down before him.

"Well, well, well. Team StrikeSquab. I should have known your suspicious behavior would lead to something like this."

"No, no, no," said Patsy quickly. "You don't understand. Y'see-"

He rambled on for some time, ignoring all Chatot's attempts to interrupt. During this time, the sound came again, much clearer now. Kaylee's ears perked up. "It is! Come on, guys, no time to lose!"

Chatot spread his wings in front of the ladder. "Where do you think you are going?"

During the time it took everyone to draw a breath to spew excuses, it came again. Much clearer. They stopped. "Wait a minute," said Mort. "That's... for Arceus' sake, Chatot! Let us past!"

Taken aback by his language, Chatot froze up. Kaylee took her chance to scramble past him, and adrenaline fueled a reasonable climb for Mort.

At the top she stopped, paws over her mouth, forcing Mort to scoot around her.

Their fears were confirmed. Kard, crawling toward the Guild, dragging Torchic behind him. He looked in their direction, probably not actually seeing them with his eyes out of focus like that, gave a weak smile, and collapsed.

Kaylee screamed.

Covered in bandages and barely breathing, Team Ultimate lay in SmiteSquad's beds, unmoving. "Geez," said Patsy. "Good thing for your ears. I don't know how much longer they would have lasted."

"I am sorry for doubting you," Chatot admitted. It looked like it took a lot out of him.

Kaylee took her face out of her paws to show her eyes full of tears. "What are we gonna do?"

"Now, now," said Chatot. "Remain calm. The Guild will handle this as we have handled all crises in the past. I will consult the Guildmaster and-"

As if on cue, Wigglytuff walked through the doorway. It was odd to see him like this, not bubbling over with excitement. "Chatot."

"Guildmaster!" said Chatot. "We have a bit of a crisis."

"I know."

Chatot seemed a little put off by his solemn mood, too. "Urf. Guildmaster, the world's finest explorers have been defeated. I just don't understand what we can do."

"There is always something," said Wigglytuff. "You three."

"What?" Team SmiteSquad all said at once. And Chatot.

"Don't think your talent for exploring has gone unnoticed!" he said. "You don't really need training at all, do you?"

"Um," said Mort.

"G-G-Guildmaster," said Chatot, "d-do you really think it wise to trust ourselves to-? I-I have been watching them closely! They are-"

Wigglytuff held up an arm, silencing him. "You aren't from around here, are you?"

"Buh..." said Patsy.

"I knew there was something different about you!" Wigglytuff grinned. "It's sure, wherever you're from, that you're top explorers!"

"No, no, no, you're making a mistake!" Mort tried to argue.

Chatot began to nod slowly. "That is true. You did defeat Sandslash."

"That was all luck!"

"And such modesty!" Chatot laughed. "I didn't understand why you were going for such easy jobs after that, and now I do! The question is, what did you hope to learn of the Guild?"

"What?" Patsy said again.

"Never mind," said Chatot. "Whatever your cause, it's true you are the only hope against this criminal."

"You don't understand!" cried Mort.

"I don't need to. What is important is that you stop whoever it is that did this." Chatot dug through Team Ultimate's Treasure Bags, pulling out the suicide job. "Aha!"

Being the one who understood these the most, Mort looked it over. "Uh..."

"How could I forget?" said Chatot, raising up some hope in the doomed Pokémon. "You should be sure to get a whole night's rest first."

It was false hope.

"Go ahead, move along," said Chatot, waving them away. As arguing had done anything before, they simply obeyed before they could get themselves in more trouble.

"They seem to have forgotten they took our beds," Patsy mumbled as they walked down the hall.

"That's the least of our worries!" said Mort in a near scream. "I didn't even know they could put this many stars on here! Something's definitely wrong about this, and I mean besides that fact. I-I can't put my finger on it, but something feels wrong."

Kaylee put a paw over his mouth. "So, what," she said in a much lower voice, "do we really plan to get ourselves killed doing this?"

"No," said Patsy. "Not a chance."

"Right," said Kaylee, removing her paw. "We'll think up a good enough excuse by the morning. There's nothing to worry about."

"I don't know," said Mort.

"Look, if it's that or die, I think our brains will cook something up."

"If you put it that way."

"Whatever happens," she said, pulling him close. "We're in this together. We've never been stopped working together before."

They stayed still for an uncomfortably long time, until the clearing of Patsy's throat. "Sorry to interrupt the romantic moment-"

"What?" said Kaylee in shock. Mort simply glared.

"But we do need the sleep they mentioned."

Mort nodded. "They're taking our beds. Let's take theirs."

Team Ultimate did have a habit of not locking up, and that plan was definitely justified if they were about to be saviors of the world. And so they did, minds churning for a solution all the way to sleep.

**Author's notes:**

Gosh, I had a plan for this chapter and everything, and my characters had to go and ruin it. Though... maybe you don't call it ruining if they made it so much better than I'd planned.

I think this is the part where I'd apologize for the delay. Y'know, if it made any sense to anymore. As always, I'll be lucky to write one chapter a month. Though honestly, I think with a cliffhanger like that, I could very well write a lot harder. We'll see!

Speaking of characters ruining things, I guess I should take the "humor" bit out of the story description. It's getting a lot more dramatic than I'd planned. While I'll still pepper things with as much humor as I can manage, it's not about the humor at all anymore.

Well, that does it for this chapter. Weatherstorm out.


End file.
